Krispy Kreme in the US have made the following offer …
To be wholly clear, this is a US only deal and does not apply to stores outside of the US.
Reactions
You can see this coming a mile away, but yes indeed, the Anti-vaxx folks are more than a little bit upset.
If you surf on over to the Krispy Kreme Facebook page where they also published this offer, then the comments are exactly what you would anticipate them to be. Basically it’s a cue for rather a lot of misinformed loons to post daft claims.
There are of course many others pushing back as well.
WARNING: Start reading all those comments under that FB posting and you can perhaps kiss your morning goodbye.
What is perhaps not so well known … yet … is that Krispy Kreme did anticipate exactly this.
The Krispy Kreme FAQ – Anti-Vax Monday
Their FAQ has this gem …
WHAT IF I DON’T WANT TO BE VACCINATED, CAN I STILL GET THIS OFFER?
We understand that choosing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine is a highly personal decision. We advise all employees and guests to consult with their healthcare provider regarding whether to obtain a COVID-19 vaccination and which vaccine to receive after reviewing the available information. If you have made the personal decision to not receive the COVID vaccine, please visit us on Mondays, 3/29/21 – 5/24/21, to receive a free Original Glazed® doughnut and a medium brewed coffee to get your week off to a good start.
Yep, their offer is this.
If you turn up with proof that you have been vaccinated, then you get a free doughnut. If however you turn up on a Monday and you can still claim a free doughnut and a free coffee.
Basically, vaccine and free doughnut every day. No vaccine, free doughnut only on a Monday.
Sigh!
Rather obviously their campaign is designed to go viral because lots of media stories, including this posting, will be giving them free advertising.
In the end it is about getting feet in the door.
Vaccines as a “personal decision“?
Er … nope.
It’s a public health issue.
The Anti-vax stance is utter lunacy.
The most common anti-vax talking point, one that has been robustly debunked is that the vaccine is “experimental”. The vaccines available have been through very robust clinical trials and have been proven to be both safe and effective. Only when that happened was approval granted for vaccine deployment.
A few further thoughts
Encouraging people to be healthy by nudging them towards getting vaccinated is of course to be applauded, but the idea of bribing them with free Doughnuts is not exactly stuff that strikes me as a “health” lifestyle strategy.
The deal of one free Doughnut every single day for the rest of 2021 means that you can consume roughly about 280 Doughnuts or more for free; say hello to higher blood pressure, weight gain, and diabetes, and more.
To add to that, a study published in 2014 in JAMA Internal Medicine found an association between a high-sugar diet and a greater risk of dying from heart disease. Over the course of the 15-year study, people who got 17% to 21% of their calories from added sugar had a 38% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared with those who consumed 8% of their calories as added sugar.
Bottom Line: A Doughnuts as an occasional treat, sure, why not, but every single day, best to not do that. One won’t kill you, however getting COVID might. The past year has been horrendous, so the treat is very much appreciated.